Las Vegas Doesn't Need Contemporary Art

Mayor: ” It’s not necessary to have an art museum. I want a mob museum.”

The proposal for a Contemporary Art museum in Las Vegas was withdrawn recently, according to the Las Vegas Sun:

“We are very disappointed that the economy has dictated that we not invest $12 million in a nonprofit venture right now,” Jossel said. “We fully intend to create a museum of contemporary art, as it has been a dream of ours for some time and will continue to be. We recognize, however, that the city cannot hold that property for us in perpetuity, so if they find an alternative use, we will seek an alternative location for the MOCA when the time is right.”

The city required that the museum be completed within two years, a timeline that didn’t work for Tamares, Jossel said.

Finnish businessman Zabludowicz and his wife, Anita, have been collecting art since the mid-1990s and would have funded the museum privately.

The Zabludowicz Collection includes more than 1,000 works by emerging artists of the late 20th and 21st centuries. Some of those works would be brought to Las Vegas and rotated in exhibits at the museum. The centerpiece would be a permanent installation of about 8,000 square feet by British artist Keith Tyson, who won the Turner Prize in 2002. [ . . . ]

Libby Lumpkin, former executive director of the Las Vegas Art Museum, was disappointed to hear that the museum had postponed its plans.

“Great art, more often than not, surprises you because it presents to you something to see that you never knew that you wanted to see,” Lumpkin said. “It’s sort of like a museum. You don’t know how important it is until you have one. It’s really sad that they’re postponing it. Las Vegas has let a lot of things pass through its fingers.”